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[hitman46mod]

Hi I'm Jesse, we will be retiring our 2000 Mercury Mountaineer Montery AWD 5.0 as a daily driver. It has 212,000 miles on it and as the second owner (was bought from my parents) plan to do a mild lift, lockers, tires, Opening up the fender wells, Custom high clearance bumpers, and an engine and trans overhaul. Maybe some gears. Plan to build a trail/winter rig. I'll get some pics up soon. I will do a build thread as well

 

[Glen4X4]

Welcome To The Forum! You sound like you know what you want. If you're building her into trail and road rig are you going to swap a part-time 4X4 t-case?

 

[hitman46mod]

That is what I'm here for to get advice on what I need to get to make this work out. I don't mind a little trial and error but some times it can get expensive. for instance, I know if I run the full time TC I will need a front locker that can be left open. I have some experience with 4wd trucks my first vehical was an 83 Dodge Ramcharger. If I knew then what I know now I would have never gotten rid of that truck.:smoke: Don't get me wrong I bleed blue. My family is Ford through and through but that truck was unstopable.

 

[Glen4X4]

That is what I'm here for to get advice on what I need to get to make this work out. I don't mind a little trial and error but some times it can get expensive.

Yes it can, search for BW 4406 Swap, many 5.0 owners have done this mod there's the manual shift version and electronic shift versions.

 

[hitman46mod]

I will check it out. I would like to stay on the cheap side for now, but I know how important a good set of lockers are.

 

[Glen4X4]

Yes lockers definitely can be helpful I've found that out but they can be hazardous for on road driving too, you can also look up sway bar disconnects or permanently disconnect the rear sway bar to help with wheel travel and flex off road.

 

[hitman46mod]

Yes lockers definitely can be helpful I've found that out but they can be hazardous for on road driving too, you can also look up sway bar disconnects or permanently disconnect the rear sway bar to help with wheel travel and flex off road.

Quick disco sways could come in handy. I was just reading up on the TT mod. So a 1.5 to 2.0 lift looks easy enough. I will stick with the 31x 10.5 as my tire choice untill I read more about clearance gain with opened wheel wells.

As for the TC swap, pretty looks straight forward. I will start looking for a manual TC, as I will assume that it is the cheaper more reliable route. Plus it will look cooler to have a shifter coming out of the floor.

As far as the shackles am I correct that the WAR-153's would be the way to go? I was looking at the factory shackles and they are rusting through. So and upgrade there would be a plus. I was looking for maybe 3" to compensate for the sag that all the trucks have.

Let me know if you have a better choice for any of the stuff I have listed.

 

[sport97]

Quick disco sways could come in handy. I was just reading up on the TT mod. So a 1.5 to 2.0 lift looks easy enough. I will stick with the 31x 10.5 as my tire choice untill I read more about clearance gain with opened wheel wells.

As for the TC swap, pretty looks straight forward. I will start looking for a manual TC, as I will assume that it is the cheaper more reliable route. Plus it will look cooler to have a shifter coming out of the floor.

As far as the shackles am I correct that the WAR-153's would be the way to go? I was looking at the factory shackles and they are rusting through. So and upgrade there would be a plus. I was looking for may be 3" to compensate for the sag that all the trucks have.

Let me know if you have a better choice for any of the stuff I have listed.

That is correct you want the warrior shackles, especially if you are going to be doing some wheelin'. Although you will only get 1.5-2" lift with them...
If your looking for a little more in the back, add a set of add a leafs. It will lift that sag and firm the ride a little bit. With the shackles it should be a little closer to what you are looking for. Summit has a set of procomp AALs for around 35 bucks last time i checked

 

[hitman46mod]

That is correct you want the warrior shackles, especially if you are going to be doing some wheelin'. Although you will only get 1.5-2" lift with them...
If your looking for a little more in the back, add a set of add a leafs. It will lift that sag and firm the ride a little bit. With the shackles it should be a little closer to what you are looking for. Summit has a set of procomp AALs for around 35 bucks last time i checked

Nice thanks for the info.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum!

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome

 

[Glen4X4]

If you're truck does have that sag I would do an add-a-leaf and warrior shackles, autozone sells their own brand but they looked cheesey when I last looked at them, but others here are using them. You could do a body lift with the tt and shackles so you can fit 33's with minor trimming. If you wanted full frame and body lift cheaper than buying a whole superlift kit you could also do spring over axle and order just the front end kit from superlift but then you have the torsion bar drop down brackets to get in the way off road unless you do a coil over conversion

 

[hitman46mod]

I have been crunching the numbers with an engine and trans overhaul, TC swap, lift, sliders, bumpers, winch, and tires. I'm looking at around $3600 into my rig.

On my budget it will take about a year till it is all finished. I will do the lift, then tires. Build the bumpers and sliders. Do the engine and trans overhaul this summer. Buy and install the winch.

Of course there will be added costs like off road lights, a custom roof rack, highlift jack, custom brush guards front and rear, snach block, and winching gear. And I'm sure I will need to do some body work to fix the small but irritating cancer that is beginning to show on the pass rear quarter. This will be a long project, but I think it will turn out nice.

Remember all I wanted was a trail rig. The engine and trans can be put off as there is no issue at the moment. But I know what will happen. I will lift it put bigger tires on add the bumpers and take it off road and the trans will puke or something. Murphy's law.:shifty_ey

BTW I am of the understanding that you take the vehicles weight and double it and that is the winch you need. Is that just a rule of thumb or fact?

If so I was looking at a Smittybilt XRC-12. I can get one for about $670 shipped. Or do you guys have a cheaper option?

 

[Glen4X4]

Sounds like a good plan, and not sure about rule of thumb on buying a winch, I haven't thought about one yet (although its definitely a good idea). Remember just try to keep your trans as cool as possible, I have seen some that hooked up electric fans to the aux trans cooler to keep the trans as cool as possible while wheeling.

 

[hitman46mod]

Sounds like a good plan, and not sure about rule of thumb on buying a winch, I haven't thought about one yet (although its definitely a good idea). Remember just try to keep your trans as cool as possible, I have seen some that hooked up electric fans to the aux trans cooler to keep the trans as cool as possible while wheeling.

I hear that. Should be an easy mod.

 

[Glen4X4]

Just another option, just cheaper than rebuilding the trans if it doesn't need it yet.

 

[hitman46mod]

Ok, I have been searching all day for a 4406-M TC and found a few places to get a rebuilt for a good price, however I decided to leave the AWD system in till the trans dies. Then I can do the overhaul and TC swap at the same time.

So I will do the TT mod, shackles, AAL, and tires now. I got a nice deal on a set of Dunlop Radial Mud Rovers in a 31 x 10.5 R15 $119 a piece at $556 shipped to the shop. Remember I'm building a trail rig not a extreme offroader.

I need to take some measurements and start designing my high clearance bumpers and sliders.

Here is the catch, I still need to find my wife a car she likes to replace the Mounty. So whenever she figures out what she wants, then we can buy it and I can start working!

Once I begin the work I will post a build thread with lots of pics in the 2nd gen X forum. Stay tuned I will still need some more info before I begin.

One thing I want to add. I am a certified mechanic at a repair shop in Oakland county MI. For any of the local members please feel free to PM me for any service related questions you may have.

 

[Glen4X4]

I've heard from members the awd does descent off road its just that it lacks low range and a full 50/50 split. Are you still planning on locking it?

 

[hitman46mod]

I've heard from members the awd does descent off road its just that it lacks low range and a full 50/50 split. Are you still planning on locking it?

I was going to look into that, thinking maybe a viscous coupling from a different TC may work. However it would just be easier to swap out the TC later and throw a locker in the front.

I was also looking at the Tru Track LSD for the front. It is not a locker and is used an several full time 4wd systems. I will have to see how well it does off road.

I have not even checked to see if the truck has an LSD in the front. It has a vacuum modulator on the front axle. Is that a vacuum operated locker? I have been looking on the internet, and the only thing I can find is a pic of a similar D35 from a toyota and it makes mention of a diff disconnect.:scratch:

I have had a couple of 4x4s and have been offroading more times than I can remember, but I can count on one hand how many times I've used low range. So maybe the AWD will work. This truck 6 months old went to Moab Utah and ran some of the Beginner trails. I have some pics of it crawling up some interesting stuff. And when your stuck your stuck, even low range won't help. We will just have to see.

(EDIT) I'm positive that I have a diff disconnect axle. Problem is it looks nothing like the one Ford used and was not used after 96 so I'm confused? I will try to get the truck on the lift and get some pics so I can sort all this mess out.

 

[Glen4X4]

Your truck shouldn't have an LSD in the front from factory, I think the rears in v8's were all lsd's in the rear though. And I just use low range for steep angles or for couple different situations just so its easier to do and not so hard on the trans, I haven't hooked up an aux cooler yet to help it. And 96 was the last year for a vacuum axle, v8's started in 96 ex's and they had a live axle since they were AWD systems because if the axle wasn't connected there's possibility of the truck rolling while parked since the transfer case helps keep the truck parked do to the full-time awd.